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A perspective on in person scientific meetings

2023; Elsevier BV; Volume: 184; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.radonc.2023.109691

1879-0887

Shilo Lefresne, M. J. Brown, Susan Ellard, Graeme Duncan, Jim Rose, Michael Darud, Julianna Caon, C. Lund, Caroline Mariano,

Climate Change Communication and Perception

We write this letter as an urgent plea for planning committees and delegates to consider the carbon footprint of annual scientific meetings in response to the climate crisis. The COVID 19 pandemic demonstrated the ability to successfully host virtual scientific meetings that were educational, engaging and productive. These also allowed for enhanced meeting participation from delegates who would normally not be able to travel, particularly those in the developing world. As health care providers, we had a duty to do our part to fight the COVID 19 pandemic by upholding restrictions recommended by public health. As COVID restrictions have lifted, in person meetings, both locally and abroad have resumed with enthusiasm. However, the climate crisis is another global health crisis that requires our attention and urgent action. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th report August 2021 was called a "Code Red for Humanity" by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres [[1]Mcgrath M. Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'.BBC. 9 2021; Google Scholar]. Without doubt, this crisis is more dangerous than the COVID 19 pandemic. It has been masquerading as a 'future' problem, seemingly evolving in slow motion. Yet, the climate crisis is not a future problem. It is happening now, and requires action now. Regardless of where one lives, we have all experienced the effects of climate change. Between June and November 2021 British Columbians experienced a "deadly trifecta of extreme weather events" starting with an unprecedented and lethal heat dome; then a province-wide state of emergency, due to 86 000 km2 of forest fire; followed by an atmospheric river, causing flooding and landslides, destroying all key highways leading into and out of the Lower Mainland [[2]Little S. Flooding, fires and heat: A year of unprecedented weather extremes in B.C.Global News. 2021; Google Scholar]. At least 600 lives were lost during the heat dome; 50 000 people were evacuated due to these catastrophes, many losing homes and businesses; some communities had boil water advisories because of inability to process sewage, local hospitals were shut down, food supply and supply chains were disrupted, and firefighting costs were 565 million dollars [2Little S. Flooding, fires and heat: A year of unprecedented weather extremes in B.C.Global News. 2021; Google Scholar, 3Race Against Climate Change, break the silos. Canadas National Observer, 2021.Google Scholar]. The cost incurred by the atmospheric river is projected to be in the billions [[2]Little S. Flooding, fires and heat: A year of unprecedented weather extremes in B.C.Global News. 2021; Google Scholar]. Less than a year after BC's atmospheric river, Canada's east coast was hit by Hurricane Fiona which brought >100 km/h winds, torrential rainfall, flooding and storm surges which swept homes into the ocean and left >500 000 people without power [[4]Post-tropical storm Fiona most costly weather event to ever hit Atlantic Canada, new estimate says. CBC Nova Scotia, 2022.Google Scholar]. Abroad, India and Pakistan suffered a heatwave in May 2022 in which wet-bulb temperatures exceeded the limit of human survivability for six days, shortly followed by unprecedented flooding which killed 1500 people and displaced 33 million [5Climate Change made devastating early heat in India and Pakistan 30 times more likely. Available Online: https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-made-devastating-early-heat-in-india-and-pakistan-30-times-more-likely (accessed on 23 May 2022).Google Scholar, 6Masters J. India and Pakistan's brutal heat wave poised to resurge.Yale Climate Connections. 2022; Google Scholar, 7Lu C. The lingering impact of Pakistan's floods.Foreign Policy. 2022; Google Scholar]. This summer the UK declared its 'first-ever red level extreme heat warning' when temperatures exceeded 40 °C for the first time on record [[8]Said-Moorhouse L. Scientists say temperatures are getting 'hotter faster' than their tools can calculate.CNN. 2022; Google Scholar]. The region experienced disrupted infrastructure including buckling railway tracks and melting airport runways in addition to loss of life [[8]Said-Moorhouse L. Scientists say temperatures are getting 'hotter faster' than their tools can calculate.CNN. 2022; Google Scholar]. Unfortunately the UN predicts that by 2030 we will have 560 climate related global disasters per year [[9]Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022: Our World at Risk: Transforming Governance for a Resilient Future. Geneva; 2022.Google Scholar]. Just like COVID 19, these disasters strain our emergency response systems, lead to increased hospitalizations, and disrupt health care service delivery through damaged infrastructure and supply chains. The fiscal cost associated with each disaster is astronomical and certain to strain government funding available for future health care investments. Specific to oncology, the impact of climate related events on cancer incidence and treatment is poorly understood but consequences are anticipated. For example, carcinogen exposure is anticipated to increase as forest fires and floods release carcinogens into the atmosphere and food chain and extreme weather events threaten food security impacting important determinants of health [10Nogueira L.M. Yabroff K.R. Bernstein A. Climate change and cancer.CA: Cancer J Clin. 2020; 70: 239-244Crossref PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar, 11The Lancet Oncology Climate crisis and cancer: the need for urgent action.Lancet Oncol. 2021; 22: 1341Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar]. Similarly, climate related stressors on the health care systems are certain to impact the delivery of cancer care at every level from prevention and screening, to diagnosis and treatment, to survivorship care [[12]Lichter K.E. Anderson J. Sim A.J. Baniel C.C. Thiel C.L. Chuter R. et al.Transitioning to environmentally sustainable, climate-smart radiation oncology care.Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022; 113: 915Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar]. As physicians, we have a vested interest in joining the fight against the climate crisis. We also have a moral duty to recognize the carbon footprint and ecological impact of our professional and personal practices. Reducing air travel is one of the single most effective ways to reduce one's individual carbon footprint [[13]Ciers J. Mandic A. Toth L. Op't Veld G. Carbon footprint of academic air travel: A case study in Switzerland.Sustainability. 2018; 11: 80Crossref Scopus (46) Google Scholar]. Our Canadian medical students have been promoting a transition to virtual interviews for the annual Canadian Resident Matching Service tour, to address our "culture of emissions-intensive practices" [[14]Liang K.E. Dawson J.Q. Stoian M.D. Clark D.G. Wynes S. Donner S.D. A carbon footprint study of the Canadian medical residency interview tour.Med Teacher. 2021; 43: 1302-1308Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar]. In-person scientific meetings are an example of such practices. In addition to CO2 emissions related to air travel, the infrastructure required to support conferences and the activities associated with them such as hotel accommodations, conference venues, catering and single use waste is extremely energy intensive [[15]Zotova O. Pétrin-Desrosiers C. Gopfert A. Van Hove M. Carbon-neutral medical conferences should be the norm.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e48-e50Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (34) Google Scholar]. For example, Zotova et al., estimated a carbon footprint of 1900 tonnes of CO2e for an international meeting of 900 delegates [[15]Zotova O. Pétrin-Desrosiers C. Gopfert A. Van Hove M. Carbon-neutral medical conferences should be the norm.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e48-e50Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (34) Google Scholar]. Using the distribution of radiation oncologists across Canada as an example, and assuming round trip flights from capital cities, a conservative estimate of the carbon footprint of an annual general meeting of radiation oncologists in Vancouver for 400 delegates is 530 tonnes CO2e [14Liang K.E. Dawson J.Q. Stoian M.D. Clark D.G. Wynes S. Donner S.D. A carbon footprint study of the Canadian medical residency interview tour.Med Teacher. 2021; 43: 1302-1308Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar, 16Less. Available Online: https://www.less.ca/en-ca/flights.cfm. (Accessed 14 April 2022).Google Scholar]. This is equivalent to the carbon emitted by 114 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year [[17]Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. Available Online: https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator. (Accessed 14 April 2022).Google Scholar]. 627 acres of forest are required to sequester this footprint over one year [[17]Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. Available Online: https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator. (Accessed 14 April 2022).Google Scholar]. By contrast, the carbon footprint of a purely virtual conference is 94% less than a purely in-person event [[18]Tao Y. Steckel D. Klemeš J.J. You F. Trend towards virtual and hybrid conferences may be an effective climate change mitigation strategy.Nature Commun. 2021; 12Crossref Scopus (52) Google Scholar]. According to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "every fraction of a degree matters, every voice can make a difference and every second counts." [[19]António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) to the press conference launch of IPCC report. Available online: https://media.un.org/asset/k1x/k1xcijxjhp?fbclid=IwAR02YrxaVlkCeLfGDMI66u4SKj_AARquviBfDoNT3Zom6FSwowUBSAqkR0s. (Accessed 28 Feb 2022).Google Scholar]. The public knows that physicians understand and respond to science. By ignoring the science of climate change, making exceptions for ourselves, we are sending the wrong signal to the public. By contrast, a concerted effort to reduce our own emissions, and to behave responsibly, guided by science, would send a powerful message that we need to change the way we go forward. The medical community has the opportunity to have a voice in the fight against climate change. We have a duty to consider the broader impacts of physician behavior. We can start with re-evaluating the need for in-person scientific meetings, an activity that is contradictory to the goal of improving global health outcomes. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.